This may come as a surprise to some Americans but the most
popular sport in the world is football, or as Americans call it soccer. Soccer
comes in with an estimated total of 3.5 Billion fans while American Football
and Basketball is estimated at only 800 million fans combined. The two don’t
even add up to 30% of soccer’s popularity. In most world sports such as the
Winter Olympics Games or the Summer Olympics Games the USA has long asserted its
athletic dominance. However, when it comes to soccer the USA has been the
laughing stock of the rest of the world.
Why? First of all, America has its own favorite sports.
Americans would much rather watch the Super Bowl or the NBA Finals over the
World Cup. Many Americans don't find the possibility of a 0-0 tie game to be
entertaining to the least bit. A non-scoring game does in no way fill a sports
bar with excitement, at least not in the US.
For reasons above, soccer has not been a widely played sport
in neighborhoods and schools across America. Beside the typical middle class
soccer mom's family, soccer is not a household sport. Soccer is only practiced
and played by the vast minority of American citizens. America has never focused
sufficient resources into the sport of soccer to establish a team that could
challenge the best in the world because of its low participation rates. For the
US to even qualify and compete exceptionally in recent World Cups has been a
major accomplishment within itself with such miniscule participation.
Other than commonly stated arguments against soccer, what is
soccer’s biggest failure in the US? Soccer's target demographic plays the
biggest role in its lack of success. Soccer is often looked at as America's
middle class sport. The parents of our soccer youth are often the middle class
soccer moms or the middle class hard working fathers who want their kids to
learn the values of hard work through sport. Often for these kids, playing soccer
is not their own choice. Some of these children are forced to pick a sport by
their parents at a young age. With the brutality of football as a deterrent and
a plethora of highly skilled youth in the sport of basketball, it's no question
why baseball and soccer are often the sport of choice for middle class youth.
Nevertheless, there are also many kids that choose soccer for their love of the
sport. Soccer is undoubtedly an enjoyable sport to play. Even so, it is not
enough to simply be a sport that is fun to play. For the widespread success of
any sport in a country there has to be more draw to the sport than being a fun
game to play. This is where soccer fails to succeed in America and until soccer
meets a few other criteria its potential will remain unrealized.
Many don't see the potential of USA Soccer as it comes off a
bit blurry. Once the fog is cleared though the potential can be seen very
clearly. Think about it... America arguably has the best athletes in all of the
world. The only reason this is even arguable is for the reason that the US
stinks so terribly in soccer which many consider to be the World's sport. In
the World's sport, the US has always been a notch below mediocrity. This casts
a great big shadow over the true athleticism of the USA. In most other sports
it would be a sin to even question America's athletic dominance. With such
athletic talent present, the potential of USA Soccer is very clear. America has
the potential to be the most dominant soccer country in the world.
How does America go about realizing its potential? The
answer is very complex but to sum it up into a short statement, USA soccer
needs to target a different demographic. One can look at any sport in the world
and it will be found that in every sport the best athletes of that sport are
the athletes who needed that sport to survive. For example, most kids stricken
by poverty in Latin American countries see soccer as their only way out of
poverty. As opposed to a middle class child with little financial struggles,
soccer is not just a fun game to play, it is the only way their families will
eat. These young Latino boys will out-train, out-practice, out-sweat, out-bleed
anyone else in the world to ensure that they take their families out of the
ghettos in which they survived as a child. The same goes for popular American
sports. These athletes have the hunger to make it before everyone else and that
hunger drives them to be the best. In a capitalist society such as the USA that
drive for gold becomes even greater. Sure you have your typical Stephen Curry's
who grew up wealthy and simply had access to the best training possible but the
dedication of Steph Curry to athletics is something that is very rare among the
peers Steph grew up with. Regardless, most of America's great athletes come
from a poverty stricken past. The same could be said about baseball. There is a
new wave of baseball talent coming from the Dominican Republic and Cuba who see
Major League Baseball as their only way out. No matter what sport or where you
look in the world, the best athletes are the kids who grow up with nothing else
to lose.
The establishment and growth of MLS has done much for
tapping into the minds of our future athletes. Still, soccer is a long ways
away from being a main sport played by poor kids from the ghetto. There is
still only limited opportunity for fame, brandability, endorsement deals, shoe
deals, high paying contracts, or becoming an American household name through
soccer. Kids in America don't see the profitability in soccer and to be frank
soccer's profitability in the US is higher than it's ever been but still very
limited. There is no reason for a kid to want to make a few million dollars
playing soccer when he can invest all of his time and practice and make
hundreds of millions playing basketball. USA Soccer's potential athletes are on
display right now in more profitable sports. Imagine an athlete with the
capabilities of Kyrie Irving instead of wanting to learn how to dribble a
basketball as a kid wanting to learn how to dribble a soccer ball. Imagine an
athlete like Odell Beckham Jr using his amazing ability to catch as a goalie instead
of as a wide receiver. For other countries to even try and compete against the
US wouldn't be fair. USA would be a lock to
win the World Cup every four years.
It’s amazing to imagine but right now it is only just a
dream. Until soccer is seen as viable means for these little poor boys and
girls to move their families out of the ghetto, until then America will never
reach its soccer potential.
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